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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25203574">Treehouse Bathtubs and What they Represent</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot'>Onehelluvapilot</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Salvation (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aftermath of Torture, Episode Related, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e04 The Human Strain, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s01e04 The Human Strain, References to Torture, Season/Series 01, Trust, Waterboarding</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:15:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25203574</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"At first Liam couldn't put a finger on what felt wrong about being in there. There were no visible signs of recent construction; the contractors had cleaned up completely after themselves. The persistent feeling that something was wrong could not be rationally explained until he was leaving the bathroom and it hit him. The shower in the Treehouse has been replaced by a bathtub."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Liam Cole &amp; Darius Tanz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Treehouse Bathtubs and What they Represent</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I fiddled with the timeline a little bit and added more time between episode 4 and episode 5, so this is set after The Human Strain and before Keeping the Faith.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Why aren't we going to the Treehouse?" Liam asked as Darius led him to one of the little secure out-buildings near the Tanz main building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm having some work done up there," the CEO explained casually. "It should be done in a few days."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What kind of work?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, they found some mold in the bathroom. It's inconvenient and I wish it could have waited for six months, but its better to get it fixed now than to allow it to grow and compromise air quality." They reached what was apparently going to be their temporary meeting spot and the topic changed to more serious matters. It was nearly forgotten until the next week, when they had returned to the Treehouse and Liam had to use the bathroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first he couldn't put a finger on what felt wrong about being in there. There were no visible signs of recent construction; the contractors had cleaned up completely after themselves. The persistent feeling that something was wrong could not be rationally explained until he was leaving the bathroom and it hit him. The shower has been replaced by a bathtub. He squinted at the change, confused as to why Darius had implemented it as well as why he hadn't mentioned it. The Treehouse was his home, basically; Liam didn’t even know if he had a private apartment somewhere else. Another confusing thing is that his boss had always seemed to prefer quick, cold showers to wake himself up during long brainstorming sessions; he didn’t seem at all like a bath guy. It was larger than a standard tub, but it wasn’t extravagant. No jets marred its clean interior and a bar of soap and bottle of shampoo sat on the rim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you decide to change the bathroom since they were already renovating it to get rid of the mold?” he asked Darius as he returned to the main room of the Treehouse. The older man looked up and scowled briefly at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, I thought we were trying to save the world, not comment on my interior design,” he scolded before turning away back the holographic model of the EM drive. “Now, I think we can cut down on gravitronic interference if we replace this section of steel with a carbon fibre composite.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will that compromise structural integrity?” Liam asked in response, sufficiently mollified. As if in punishment, it was hours until the older man allowed them to take another break. They had finished the design of the support structure for the engine, which would be looked over by more engineers tomorrow before beginning to be built.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Liam lay on the couch while Darius took a spot stretched out on the carpet under a hologram of some distant solar system with planets in the habitable zone. It was a comforting reminder that there were other planets out there capable of sustaining life, far from the problems here on Earth. Maybe, with the EM drive, they’d reach them some day. The two men lay silently except for the sounds of the former grad student eating chips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Replacing the shower was the plan from the start, mold was just a cover story,” Darius piped up unexpectedly. Liam turned to look at him, but his expression was unreadable from his angle. “After the DoD waterboarded me, I… stopped being able to take showers. The feeling of water running over my face was too much.” The only indication that it was hard for him to say that was the single pause; his smooth voice was still perfectly steady. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And baths are easier?” Liam asked. He didn’t know what else to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can keep my face out of it better,”  Darius agreed with a nod against the ground. “Other waterboarding survivors apparently have similar problems. Some report not being able to go out in the rain. I guess I’ll have to wait for a storm to see if I have that problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you telling me this?” Liam asked. He hoped that wasn’t a rude question, but Darius didn’t seem like the sharing type and they had known each other for only a little over a month. Admittedly, that month felt like year due to everything that had happened in it, but they still weren’t all that close yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you can remind me to bring an umbrella when I go outside, or understand what’s happening if I do have a panic attack.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s very practical.” Liam was surprised to find that he was… disappointed by that. There was a long pause before Darius spoke again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not the only reason,” he said, and his voice was softer now. He rolled over onto his right arm to look at Liam. “Since… since Lazlo, I don’t have many people I can trust. I want those that I do have to know me. And I think… knowing me now includes knowing what happened to me and what I’m doing about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I… Thank you, sir, for your trust.” That seemed like the safe thing to say. He took a deep breath before saying the riskier one. But sometimes risks had to be taken to make friends. “I trust you too. I didn’t, before your… interrogation-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can say torture,” he corrected, “but go on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Before your torture,” Liam continued, though the word stuck in his throat. “I believed what they were saying. I thought you might be the mole. When we found Salvation, I thought that was your plan all along. Let the world burn and save the few you wanted to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What changed your mind?” Darius asked. There was no judgement in his voice, as the younger man had expected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it didn’t take us, Grace and I, long to realize that you were protecting her by keeping your alibi secret. As for when I think I began to trust you, that was when I saw </span>
  <em>
    <span>Starry Night</span>
  </em>
  <span> in that vault. Grace asked “Why would someone who wants to doom humanity also save its greatest works?” That’s when I realized you really do have a reason for everything. And you could have hired Jillian for anything, just to keep her close to me, but instead you put her on a project that could really make a difference, because you believed in what she stood for.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I just really liked her book,” Darius said. It was deflection away from the sentiment and intimacy of the conversation, clearly, but he was smiling as he said it so Liam couldn’t fault him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If that was true you would have just contracted her to write another one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe I really hated her book,” he amended, and set them both laughing. Darius’s turned into a cough and he had to quickly sit up to be able to breathe better. It had been two weeks since his waterboarding but he still had a persistent cough he tried to hide. Liam disabled the hologram and moved to help him upright.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think we should call it a night," he suggested, emboldened by the fact that Darius hadn't shrugged off the supportive hand on his arm. "Or rather, early morning. Or not so early morning," he corrected himself as he caught a glimpse of the clock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A couple hours sleep might be nice," the older man agreed and that's how Liam knew he really felt like shit. The two men stumbled over to the Treehouse’s king-sized bed, as the younger man decided that it was too much work to walk all the way back to his own apartment for at most two hours of sleep. Jillian would understand, hopefully. Both of them took off their shoes (try to make fun of the barefoot guy now, Darius) and the CEO had shrugged off his blazer, but other than that they lay on the bed fully dressed. Liam would have to head back to his own apartment in the morning for some clean clothes, and now also a shower.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good night,” he yawned as he stretched out on the right side of the bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Morning," Darius countered before letting his eyes drift closed.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'd love to hear what you think of this fic. My characterizations especially. I just binge watched all of season 1 of Salvation yesterday, so I haven't yet absorbed the characters completely.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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